Saga hellenica is a large species of bush cricket or katydid in the family Tettigoniidae. It is endemic to the Balkans, living in Albania, North Macedonia, Greece (without Eastern Macedonia and Thrace) and in the past also in western Bulgaria, where it occurred on shrubs and more rarely in the grass in open stony terrains and light xerophytic forests.[1]

Saga hellenica
In central Greece
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Family: Tettigoniidae
Genus: Saga
Species:
S. hellenica
Binomial name
Saga hellenica
Kaltenbach, 1967

It feeds on other large insects such as other species of Orthoptera including crickets and grasshoppers. Although it is locally common in most of its geographical range, it is threatened by agricultural activities and seasonal fires created by farmers and arsonists.

References

edit
  1. ^ Saga hellenica. Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria
  • Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae, Insects of Britain and Northern Europe, Michael Chinery, ISBN 978-0002199186